


Shall We Play?

by AmuletMisty (AmuletStormfall)



Series: CxB Week 2015 [1]
Category: Legion of Super Heroes (TV)
Genre: Gaming, M/M, some minor characters like Bruce and the other aniLosh characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 06:50:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16571732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmuletStormfall/pseuds/AmuletMisty
Summary: [Gaming AU] Clark tries out a VR game supplied by Bruce and discovers a whole lot more than he expected.





	Shall We Play?

**Author's Note:**

> Re-posted from deviantart. Originally published Sep 21, 2015.  
> Man, this just seems like an SAO rip-off, on re-read hahahah.

**‘Welcome. You are now entering the world of Destiny Crisis. You have been recognised as a new player. Please choose a username.’**

Clark yanked the headgear off of his head, having been startled by the surroundings he had just been in. While he knew that he was still sitting in the game room of the Wayne Mansion, it had seriously felt like he had been transported to a whole different dimension. He swore that he experienced the sensation of floating in some sort of digital space, blue grids all round him and bold words floating above him, accompanied with a woman’s robotic voice.

When Bruce had told Clark he could use his brand new Holo Mask while he was out, Clark had been all for it. He of course had _heard_ all about the latest piece of gaming technology (everyone at school had been talking about it for the whole of the last semester) but he hadn’t expected it to be this advanced. This was one of the perks of being Bruce Wayne’s friend – Clark was able to try out some of the latest tech before it was even officially on the market. Of course, the downside was the fact that he was called away for meetings at short notice, which was why Clark was stuck here alone in the first place.

He guessed he should make the most of the opportunity, since he was already here, though.

Removing his glasses, since they felt uncomfortable under the gear, he slid the equipment back on.

The level of eyesight someone had seemed to be of little importance with the Holo Mask, Clark soon found, because he was brought back to the same image he had left with, and it was just as clear.

‘ **Please choose a username.’** The voice repeated.

“Superman,” Clark answered easily. He couldn’t remember when he had come up with it but he had been using that handle for all he games he ever played. He was fortunate enough to always get the username he wanted, again, mostly due to getting to play the games first.

‘ **Superman.’** Letters spelling out his handle appeared and then glowed white. **‘You have been one of the few chosen as leaders into this new world’.** Leaders – translation: beta testers. **‘Your neuro-system has been scanned to identify your appearance.’** There was another glow of light just in front of Clark. **‘Is this correct?’**

A second Clark materialised right in front of him. It had taken into account the absence of his glasses, though that was the only item on him that remained the same. His body structure looked slightly more defined, though that wasn’t the most striking difference. They had put him in some kind of mechanic suit. It was blue in colour and looked like armour that covered his whole body, save his face. The 3D image rotated around and Clark could see red lines running down both sides of the armour. The line started from his neck down until they were cut off by the armour around his chest and shoulders, which seemed a bit bulkier. The lines continued under that armour to continue from the visible top part of his arms right down to his wrist. His hands were also covered by studier looking metallic gloves which were a much darker shade of the blue of the rest of the armour.

Needless to say, this looked pretty cool and he was really impressed with the design for the gear in this game.

“It looks great – er, I mean – it’s correct.”

Without any warning the other Clark ran towards him. “Wha-” The other Clark ran right into him, not as it phased _into_ Clark. “Where’d he go?” He turned to look for his counterpart when he realised he felt a bit…heavy. Looking down he was stunned to see he was the one now wearing the armour. “This is way too cool.”

**‘Now, soldier, who do you pledge your allegiance to?’**

Several dozen emblems started materialising in the air under the words.

Right, this was the part where he had to pick a guild. The many different guilds were one of the games’ details that had really got out and were talked about on forums online everywhere. This, unlike the gear, he had been prepped for.

“I pledge allegiance to Krypton.” Your base stats were based on which guild you chose, and Clark had always been one to favour strength and special attacks, which this one were high in both, even though most only had an advantage on one. He wondered if there were going to be any setbacks in having two high powered stats. The forums had discussed that too but no one could guess what it could be.

**“Superman of Krypton, a new world awaits you. It is time to find out what Destiny has in store for you. ”**

White light engulfed him all of a sudden and Clark shielded his eyes on reflex. As the intensity dropped, Clark slowly opened his eyes and gasped.

“This is amazing.”

He was standing on a small, translucent platform. It was hovering in the air, and the weightlessness that Clark had felt earlier had worn off. There were several platforms in front of him, and they were all floating, creating a bridge across two great crystal mountains. Down below in the valley between the two was what he could only describe as a crystal forest – glittering tree-like structures sprouting from the ground and growing upwards, as if trying to keep up with the height that dominated them on either side.

On top of one of the mountains seemed to be a small village.

Clark traversed across to the other side, taking one measured leap at a time. He wasn’t yet sure what would happen if he fell all the way down so he didn’t take any chances.

Reaching the other end, Clark noticed that words had once again materialised, though this time on the ground in front of him.

**‘Crysville: Town of Beginnings’.**

‘Right to the point,’ Clark thought, nearly laughing at the simplicity of the name. He was sure this must be some sort of tutorial town, where he could learn more about the gameplay and perhaps the items he could buy. The forums had talked about a great trove of items that would be available for the lucky beta testers.

The buildings were, to no one’s surprise, also made of crystal.

There were several other players around the village, each looking just as geared up as Clark did, though some had different symbols on their chests. Many were talking to the people stood just in front of the houses. Thinking he should go with the flow, Clark stepped up to one of them. They didn’t look as if they even noticed Clark come towards them. “Uh…hello?”

Immediately the person (it was a short stumpy man) turned to Clark. “Good afternoon! What can I do for you today?”

This game really liked its voice activations, didn’t it?

A drop down screen appeared and hovered just beside the man and there were two options under the heading ‘responses’:

_-Can you tell me about the town?_

_-Never mind…_

Looks like there was only one real choice to go with.

“Er, can you tell me about the town?”

“Sure thing, son!” The NPC, as he obviously was one, nodded vigorously. “Right now we’re having a bit of a problem with an astro-mite infestation.” Astro-mite? “Those little buggers have been eating away at the forest. The crystal trees aren’t producing as much glassberries anymore and the harvest has been bad this year.” The man looked Clark up and down. “Ah! You look like a capable young man. How about you help us exterminate some of those pests?”

**New Objective! Clear the astro-mites.**

Looks like he just got his first mission.

After talking to another one of the NPCs, and finding that he didn’t have enough of the game’s currency yet to buy any helpful items, Clark made his way down to the forest. There was only one way down the side of the mountain and he found his very first ‘treasure-sphere’. This gave him the healing item of the game, called ‘stardust’.

He eventually found himself down in the forest. A group tutorial mechanism seemed to be at play here, as there were several other people fighting the creatures called astromites. They looked like insects except with mean green eyes and a shell that looked as hard as rocks.  The number ‘5’ showed up on the ground that moved as Clark walked. He assumed that was how many he needed to get rid of to finish the tutorial.

Clark quickly found out that his character was one of brute strength, and while others might have weapons, his tutorial had told him to use his hands to destroy his foes. His first bug was squashed out with a satisfying sound of static. New instructions were given for each bug he was mean to defeat, including being able to pick up certain objects that glowed red and being able to throw them at the enemies. It was a lot easier to catch on than other games, Clark found, since he didn’t need to memorise any combination of buttons. It felt more like he had to rely on instinct, which made the battles a lot more realistic. The realism also came with a sense of discomfort if he failed to ‘block’ an enemies attack too, of course. It wasn’t exactly ‘painful’ but he got a sort of jolt when they landed one on him. A health bar showed up for him too, and Clark frowned at the sight of his health bar going down.

He was down to his last astromite when there was a sudden loud screech.

**Special Event!**

“Huh? What was that?” Someone asked.

_Screeech!_

**Defeat the Queen Astromite for a bonus item.**

“Jackpot!” Someone else cried.

The people around him scrambled towards where the sound was, each trying to get their chance of obtaining the bonus item. With one final slam, Clark finished off his last astromite and was on the heels of the other players.

“…M-myaa…”

The group of players stopped at the sudden sound. Everyone looked around for the source.

“Over there!” At the base of a tree there was a feline-like creature leaning against the bark. It was tiny, almost like a real kitten, except it had two tails and its paws had a sort of glitter to them.

“Oh, it’s just a felis. You find them all over Crysville.” One of them said dismissively.

The player carried on forward and others went with him, some only giving the creature a glance before taking off.

“Wait guys, it sounds like it’s in…” Clark had been left in the dust. “…pain.”

Shaking his head, Clark walked towards the small creature and knelt down. “Hey little guy.”

The felis mewed at him painfully.

It didn’t physically look like anything was wrong, but Clark could just tell it was injured.

“Don’t worry pal, I’ve got just the thing for you.”

Summoning his inventory up, Clark retrieved the stardust he found. He sprinkled he dust over the felis, watching as the creature began to glow softly. When the light faded, the felis perked its ears up and stopped leaning on the tree. “Myaa!” It sounded a lot better now. In fact, the revival had been so successful that the felis had the energy to start to claw at the tree’s wide trunk.

“Whoa there. Slow down, you’re going to get yourself injured again.”

Despite Clark’s statement, the creature kept clawing at the trunk. It was almost as if it was trying to dig through the trunk.

“Let me try.” Clark pulled back his arm and punched through the tree. He almost shouted because his fist collided with something solid, and it wasn’t the other side of the tree. “What the heck?”

He stared through the whole he made and saw blue glass shining through. Pulling apart the rest of the tree, his eyes widened. It…it looked like there was a person in there! Clark managed to get the rest of the blue crystal out and laid it on the ground. “Whoa…”

The glass contained something that did look humanoid, though rather than a person with the standard gear on it looked more like an android. The purple armour it had seemed to merge with its green skin. It had blond hair above a forehead imprinted with three circles and its eyes were shut, as if it was sleeping.

“H-hey? Hello? Can you hear me?” Clark tried.

Nothing.

Clark touched the crystal again. “Wake up!”

_Whoosh!_

Light swam before his eyes once again, and the crystal dissolved, leaving only what it had inside it. Yelling at it seemed to have done the trick, because its eyes opened and it set up.

Clark smiled at it. “Hi!”

“…Who exactly are you?”

The android stared while felis mewed at it.

…This was weird. Clark was waiting for the dropdown of responses he had just got used to using, but it was nowhere to be seen. Maybe this NPC had been programmed to respond to many things?

“Oh, uh, I’m Cl – “ Shoot, no need to use his real name. “Superman.”

“Superman,” it repeated. “That’s an interesting name to choose. My name’s Brainiac Five, in case you were curious.”

It – uh – _he_ didn’t sound like the other NPCs either. The voice acting and animation for the other NPCs were good, but of course they spoke slowly and with a lot of clarity, so that the players would understand them. This guy didn’t quite sound so…programmed.

“I don’t mean to sound rude but…what are you?” He couldn’t be a player, because usernames of other players would show up when you got close enough, as well as their level.

“Me?” Brainiac Five lifted a hand and wriggled it around. “By the looks of it I’m an android.”

“Yeah, I can see that. But I meant, you’re not a player…and you don’t seem like a regular NPC.”

“Going on that, I’m sure you can reach a conclusion as to what _I_ am, Superman.”

If he was right, this would be insanely cool. “Are you an AI?”

“That’s correct. I have artificial intelligence, on the twelfth level, to be exact. Oh, and I must say thanks for getting me out of there,” said Brainiac Five. “My records don’t seem to tell me how I ended up in there. Though I do seem to have a vast collection of other knowledge in my memory bank.”

“Wow…I didn’t think AIs were already this advanced.” It was almost like talking to a real person.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Brainiac Five showed Clark a smile, one that seemed genuine and human, despite what the green-skinned boy seemed to be made of.

Clark wasn’t able to enjoy his smile for long, though, because another screech rang through the forest.

“Ah, that’s the cry of the queen astromite, isn’t it?”

“Oh! Yeah! The mission!” Clark had nearly forgot all about it. “I bet they’re nearly done with it.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Brainiac Five started to stand up. Clark rushed forward to try and help him up but the other shook his head. “I can stand on my own, don’t worry. Anyway, I was about to say that it sounded quite happy, actually.”

“Happy?”

“Like it’s having fun,” Brainiac Five explained. “We can go and see for ourselves.”

Without waiting for an agreement, Brainiac Five headed in the direction of the noise and Clark followed after him. The felis mewed as they left and Clark waved at it. “Be good!”

They walked down the path winding through the crystal trees until they came across what was a _gigantic_ astromite. It was about ten times the size of a normal one, and this queen came with wings. There were at least three or four other players that were still on the ground. There were numbers on top of their heads counting down. Guess now Clark knew what happened when your HP reached zero. You had to take a break from playing.

There were another three players still trying to take down the boss but they didn’t look like they were doing too well.

“I’ve got to help them!” Clark stepped forward but was stopped by a hand on his arm.

“Wait Superman.” Brainiac Five turns his wrist around and pressed on it. A panel opened and he took out what looked like two gold rings. “These might come in handy.”

He took Clark’s hand and placed one in his palm.

“What is it?” Clark asked, fitting the ring on his finger.

“You’ll see in a minute,” said the AI, putting on his own ring. “Now, let’s get you that bonus item.”

Brainiac Five held out his arms, and to Clark’s surprise, they extended out in bands and grabbed onto the flying astromite. Seizing this opportunity, Clark rushed forward and punched the bug from below, sending it reeling into the air.

“Jump, Superman!”

Doing as the AI suggested, Clark jumped up after the bug. Rising to a level above it, he punched it down to the ground. It seemed to have taken a critical hit, because it was unable to move, though it must have had a little bit of health left as it hadn’t faded yet. It was at this point that Clark realised he hadn’t fallen back to the ground.

“What – I’m flying!”

The ring was glowing and the red lines on his armour turned gold.

“Finish it off!”

“Oh, right!” Shaking off his awe, dealt one final blow. Punching it one last time.

**Special Event Complete.**

The Queen Astromite fizzed as the other creatures had, though its data formed something new. It looked like a black pair of armoured shoes.

**Solar Shoes Acquired**

“They increase your speed stat if you equip them,” Brainiac Five said, peering at the item from behind Clark. “Why not try them on now?”

Nodding, Clark equipped the shoes. They were instantly transformed onto his feet. At first they were black but then they morphed into a red that matched the lines down his arm.

“So not only can I fly, but I’m fast now too? This is great!” Clark said gleefully.

The remaining three others who had been fighting the queen did not share Clark’s enthusiasm.

“Hey, that’s not fair! How’d you get an NPC to help you out?” One of them asked aggressively.

“You hacked the game, didn’t you?” Another accused.

“I did _not_ ,” said Clark defensively.

“Pfft, don’t like you –”

“Ahem. Superman already knows this, but I am not a NPC. I’m an AI, thank you very much,” Brainiac Five corrected. “Also, he has not hacked the game. I’m sure the game’s creator would be insulted that you would think it would be so easy to get into the system.”

The way their jaws dropped was hilarious - Clark had to stop himself from bursting out laughing. They would have never expected to be told off by what they thought was an NPC. It was that or they were shocked about the AI bit (understandably, though).

“Superman has got a game to continue. If you’ll excuse us.” Braniac Five turned on his heel and dragged Superman away.

“Thanks for sticking up for me there, Brainiac Five,” he said as they headed back to the village. To finish the first objective Clark had to report back to the first NPC.

“I’m just returning the favour.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know how I got there, but I’m grateful that you let me out of the tree,” he said.

“It was nothing,” Clark said humbly. “I’m sure someone else would have come along eventually.”

“Perhaps that is true. Though you still deserve thanks for doing it sooner rather than later.” Brainiac Five smiled again. “Really, you have my gratitude.”

“You’re welcome, then,” said Clark. He didn’t really have the heart to argue with that heartfelt smile.

They reached the first NPC and Clark initiated a conversation. The objective was marked as complete and he received 500 credits for completing the tutorials.

“That was fun,” said Clark.

“I agree. Being unfrozen does sit well with me.”

“I bet. I’ve got to go now though.

He had checked the time; he had been playing or nearly two hours.

 “Well, it was nice meeting you, Superman.” Brainiac Five held out his hand, which Superman shook.

“You too, Brainy.”

“…Brainy?”

“Yeah. Brainiac Five is kinda a mouthful so I hope you don’t mind me calling you that.”

“Not at all. I like it.”

He let go of Clark’s hand.

“Are you going to play again, Superman?” If Clark wasn’t imagining things, Brainy sounded hopeful.

 “Yes, of course,” Clark replied. “Only if you promise to be here when I get back.”

“It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.”

Clark chucked. “Bye Brainy! See you next time, then.”

“Goodbye, Superman.”

Brainy watched as Clark logged out and his form dissolved in bright static.

“…Come back soon.”

xxxxx

“How long have you been sitting there?”

Bruce was on one of the sofas, with a book in his hand. “Oh for about half an hour. Things wrapped up pretty quickly.”

Clark took off the Holo Mask. “You could’ve taken it off me when you got back.”

“I don’t know. You looked like you were enjoying yourself,” Bruce said, with a slight upturn of the mouth. He pulled out his phone and showed Clark a picture of himself.

The Holo Mask was clear, so you could clearly see Clark grinning goofily with a blank look in his eyes. Perfect blackmail material, really.

“So, was the game that good?”

“H-huh? Yeah.”

“…Hmm sounds like there was something else that made you happy.”

He had a bad feeling about this.

“Did you meet a girl?”

“Bruce,” Clark warned.

“No? Okay, so you met a guy.”

“ _Bruce!”_

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Oh, just shut up and read your book.”

Sometimes he hated Bruce’s knack for reading people.

“That’s not how you should talk to your good friend. A friend who would let you keep the Holo Mask if you admitted he was right.”

…

“Fine, you’re right. I did meet someone. He’s an AI.”

“Did you just say an AI? A real AI?”

Luckily, this was enough to distract Bruce, for now.

Clark was just happy that he would get another chance to meet Brainy again.

**_Epilogue_ **

“What exactly was so important that you had to wake me up so early, Chuck?”

The speaker had stumbled through the door to the dimly lit lab, narrowly avoiding tripping over on of the cables that were lying on the floor.

“Garth, it’s one in the afternoon.”

“Yeah, and in summer vacation terms, that’s _early_ ,” the sleepy young man insisted. “Huh, so he called you up too, Imra?”

“Yes, he did.” She looked pointedly at the screen that they were looking at.

“What’s that?” Garth asked.

“This is streaming data directly from the Destiny Crisis. Check it out,” said Chuck.

On screen, footage of a guy in blue armour was showing, he was talking to someone that looked suspiciously like…

“Querl!?” Garth exclaimed. “What’s he doing up and about? He’s not supposed to be online yet, is he?”

“Not according to the instructions he left us.” Chuck tapped away at the computer. “Look we can get sound too.” He removed the headphones he had on and turned on the speakers.

Turning on the speakers, the three of them listened intently.

_“Me? By the looks of it I’m an android.”_

_“Yeah, I can see that. But I meant, you’re not a player…and you don’t seem like a regular NPC.”_

_“Going on that, I’m sure you can reach a conclusion as to what I am, Superman.”_

_“Are you an AI?”_

_“That’s correct. I have artificial intelligence, on the twelfth level, to be exact_.”

Garth looked away from the screen and faced Chuck. “Er, is Querl lying to that guy or does he actually think he’s an AI?”

“I don’t think _he_ thinks he’s lying. For all intents and purposes, I guess he counts as an AI.” Chuck opened up what looked like a profile. “Uh, I think he’s calling himself Braniac Five.”

“Right…”

Imra shook her head. “He wasn’t supposed to be released into the open space until all his data had finished uploading.”

“I know. Querl himself put a precaution against an early release but he didn’t want to create a complete lockout. At least that’s what he said.”

“So…what should we do about this?” Garth asked.

Chuck closed the profile down. Braniac Five was in the middle of fighting a monster. “We’ll have to think of something…but for now, I guess we’ll just have to wait.”

Turning around, Imra walked over to the table in the middle of the lab, gently putting a hand atop of it. A cloth was covering outline of what could be a human shaped figure.

“Querl…”

**Author's Note:**

> Original A/N from deviantart:
> 
> Tadaa! My first contribution to the CxB fanbase :O This was meant to be a one-shot, and a short one at that, but it seems more like an introduction to a multi-chapter fanfic -shot-. Also there's not much actual romance. It's like a pre shipping fic I guess ahahah...Whoops. Haha maybe I should continue it, cause now I actually have a possible future plot for this, hmm...
> 
> The theme was Game which may be super obvious here. It was written for the CxB week and group here on deviantart.


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